Uncoupling device for car couplers



Jul 2-1, 1925. 1,547,004

A. E. SMALL UNCOUPLING DEVICE FOR CAR COUPLERS Filed July is, 1925 fnvenfor Fi .7 Fi .6 [2- .9 F1 40 Patented Juiy El, 1925.

UNIT ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'anrnnn E. sMALL, or onreneo, irtmnois, AssrG-Non ire UNION METAL 'rnonno'rs COMPANY, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A oonPon-ATIon or nnLnwAnfr.

'unoourtrne newton more can cotrrnnns.

a matma as my 13, 1923. serial no, 651,298.

To all whom it may "concern:

Be it :known that I, ARTHUR E. SMALL, residing atGhicago, county of (look, State of lllinois, and being a citizen oi the United States,-have inventedoertain new and useful Improvements in Uncoupling Devices for Car Couplers, of which the i'ollowing is a Tull clear, and exact description, such-as will'ena'ble' others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and to use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the preferred fOIHlOTf the invention, though it isto be mnderstood that the inwentionis not rliniited to the exact details of construction shown and described,as it'is obvious that various modifications thereof within the scope of the claims will occur to persons skilled in the art.

This particular invention relatesto what is generally "known in the art as a rotating type of uncoupling device :for car couplers *and coinprises a lever revolubly mounted 'on the car with brackets or in i any other convenient manner, which :rod is usually bent downr *wvard l'y at the outer end to form a handle,

and is bent outwardly at its inner end to term a crank, pro ecting over the coupler which crank is provided with a ihorizontally positioned eye over the coupler look lifter. .The standard vertical plane coupler has a knuckle. pivoted to the coupler head and provided w itha tail-behind which the lock is placed The lock lifter protrudes through :and iaboveut'he coupler head and is provided, with e. horizontally positioned eye: "Thisv lock lifter eye is 11 in diameter and its 'tXlS is perpendicular to the longitudinal -cen-.

ter of the car. .This size and (position has been determined by the American Railroad Association and is standard *for the majority of couplers now in service;

My invention resides in theconnection between the eye on the orankuofthe operating rod and the eye -:on the coupler lock lifter;

hen the handle is raised :therod is revolved The coupler moves T'backvtardly and -li r-' ward-1y longitudinally of the 'car in buffing and draft and also moves sidewise in rounding curves, etc, and the connection between ly necessary to uncouple ears when they are coupled together sethat it is impossible to throw the knuckle ofei thercoupler. To meet this condition couplers are designed to assume a lock set position wherein the lock lifter can be raised from behind the tail of the-knuckle and retained in such a position by means within the head of the coupler independent of the operating rod. ThlS allows the operating rod to fall close to 'the'lock lifter. (See Fig.8. The oper atlng red, as above described, .is old and in use onhundreds of thousands of cars new in existence. Such rods had a shortchain connectingthe crank arm tothe-lock, lifter of the coupler which chains proved unsatisfactory and Were responsible for :a little more thanr'half of the defectsfior uncoupling mechanisms reported by the Interstate Gommerce COl'IllnlSSlOIl.

, These chains were de- 'fective because they were broken, missing, kinked and either toorlong: or .too short.

One of the objects-of this invention is to provide a connection between the rod and the coupler which will eliminate-the defects of the old chain and meet all service conditions required.

"These-rshort chains were broken by fallin behind the coupler horn and being smashed between the coupler horn and the striking.

casting by impact of the cars in coupling. The device is clesigned so that the component parts cannot becomedisconnected from each other for from the operating lever or the coupler. The connection between the component parts and also their connections to the operating rod and the coupler are such that the device cannot become kinked.

Formerly when a brakeman Wanted a small chain to repair one of the old connections he slmplyguessed as to the amount of chain required and applied it to the car, which accounts for the number of Itoolong and too short chains reported by the commission. This is not possible with my device.

Another object of the invention is to provide acdevice wherein the component parts .areduplicates, therefore, interchangeable. Duplication, of course, also simplifies manutacture, handling, accounting, etc.

Another=obj ect is to dbtain a device where in the component parts are duplicates so that they cannot ibewron gfully applied to the car a or to each other.

Another object, an. important one, is

' to obtain a connecting device that can be simply, economically and conveniently applied to the old operating rod now on the equipment and to the standard coupler without altering either one whatsoever.

The railroads cannot afford, under present conditions, to scrap and replace these operating rods.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a car with my invention applied thereon.

Fig. 2 is a cross section along line 2-2 of 'Fig. 1 showing the device in full lines in normal position and in dotted lines in an elevated position.

Fig. 3 is a section along line 22 of Fig. 1 showing the device with the coupler in look set position.

Fig. 4 is a section along line 2-2 of Fig. 1 showing the device wherein the operating rod is allowed to fall close to the lock lifter.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevation of the device showing the two component members assembled.

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a blank formed by shearing it out of a flat piece of metal.

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 shows the complete member wherein the eyes have been slit and deflected to form open hooks.

Fig. 10 is a side elevation of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is an end elevation of Fig. 9.

The usual parts of the car are shown wherein 1 is the end sill; 2 the push pole pocket; 3 the striking casting; 4 the carry iron; 5 the coupler; 6 the coupler knuckle; 7 the knuckle pivot pin and 8 the lock lifter eye. The rod 9 is revolubly mounted in brackets 10 and 11 which are secured to any convenient part of the car. The rod 9 is bent downwardly at the outer end to form handle 12 and bent laterally at the inner end to form crank 18 which is provided with horizontally disposed eye 14. The duplicate members 15 and 16 being connected together form an operative connection between the lock lifter eye 8 and crank eye 14:.

The eye of the lock lifter 8 and the eye of the crank arm 14 have their axes substantially parallel, therefore, the axes of the eyes or hooks of my device must also be parallel. This is accomplished by twisting or forming the opposite ends of each individual member in planes substantially fortyfive degrees apart. The members are duplicates in every detail so that no matter which ends of the members are connected together the eyes at the opposite ends of the assembled device will be parallel (that is when assembled on the car). The two members may besecured together either at the factory or at the car; in eitherevent it is immaterial which end of the assembled device is attached to the coupler; in other words, the assembled device cannot be improperly applied to the car.

In Fig. 2 wherein the device is shown in normal position the two members are shown at a slight angle to each other so that the coupler can assume the various service positions without affecting the crank arm.

The members are formed by shearing a blank (see Figs. 7 and 8) from a flat piece of steel or other metal. In the second operation the closed eyes are split, as shown in lines 20 and 21 in Fig. 9, and in the third operation the eyes at the opposite ends of the member. are deflected, as shown by lines 22 and 23 in Fi s. 10 and 11 to form 0 )en s a l hooks. While I have described the manufacture as comprising three operations it is understood that all of these operations may be performed by one operation of the machine.

In assembling the members together the adjacent hooks are closed to form eyes and in attaching the device to the crank arm and the lock lifter at the opposite ends, the hooks at the opposite ends are closed-to form eyes so that the device cannot become disconnected.

I claim:

1. In an uncoupling device for car couplers comprising a rotatable rod having a handle at its outer end and a crank at its inner end provided with a horizontally positioned eye, and a pair of duplicate mem.

bers flexibly connecting said eye to said coupler, each of said members having an eye at each end, the axes of said eyes positioned substantially forty-five degrees apart.

2. In combination with an uncoupling device for car couplers comprising a rotat able operating rod having a handle at its outer end and a crank at its inner end provided with a horizontally positioned eye, a car coupler equipped with a lock pin pro vided with a horizontally positioned eye, and a pair of symmetrical and duplicate members provided with split openings at their extremities for engagement with each other and with the eye of said operating rod and the eye of said lock pin.

3. In combination with an uncoupling device for car couplers comprising a rotatable operating rod having a handle at its outer end and a crank at its inner end provided with a horizontally positioned eye, a car coupler equipped with a lock pin provided with a horizontally positioned eye, and a pair of duplicate members symmetrical with respect to center lines across their width and length, each of said members provided with split openings at their extremities for engagement with each other and with the eye of said operating rod and the eye of said lock pin.

4. In combination with an uncoupling device for car couplers comprising a rotatable operating rod having a handle at its outer end and a crank at its inner end provided with a horizontally positioned eye, acar coupler equipped with a lock pin provided with a horizontally positioned eye, and a pair of symmetrical and duplicate members provided with split openings at their extremities for engagement with each other and with the eye of said operating rod and the eye of said lock pin, the axes of said openings positioned substantially forty-live degrees apart in each link.

5. In combination with an uncoupling device for car couplers comprising a rotatable operating rod having a handle at its outer end and a crank at its inner end provided with a horizontally positioned eye, a car coupler equipped with a lock pin provided with a horizontally positioned eye, and a pair of symmetrical and duplicate members provided with split openings at their extremities for engagement with each other and with the eye of said operating rod and the eye of said lock pin, the axes of said openings positioned substantially forty-five degrees apart in each link; the axes of the openings at the extremities of said connected members being substantially parallel when in operative position.

6. In combination with an uncoupling device for car couplers comprising a rotatable operating rod having a handle at its outer ARTHUR E. SMALL. 

